I have learned that my friend Satyendra Huja has recently passed. He served for many years as the head planner for #cville and then later two terms as Mayor. I have been grateful for his friendship these many years and often find myself inspired by his many years of service and insistence on “thinking outside the box”. Miss you Satyendra. https://www.cvillepedia.org/Satyendra_Huja

There is a nice obituary and information about the celebration of Satyendra Huja's life posted here https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/dailyprogress/name/satyendra-huja-obituary?id=57589160

“he was a strong advocate for the Downtown Mall, as well as revitalizations of Court Square, the Corner, and Starr Hill. He served on City Council beginning in 2008 and became the first Indian Sikh mayor of an American city in 2012 and served until 2016” #urbanism #Cville #Sikh

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/disco-elysium-writer-was-told-people-covet-these-items-more-than-they-care-when-pushing-back-against-ridiculous-merch “people making games are being stamped on regularly in support of millionaire interests” #DiscoElysium #gamedev

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trump-tariffs-canada-february-1-1.7447829 “Canadian lumber, favoured by U.S. homebuilders, will also spike, driving up the cost of new homes at a time when home prices have never been higher in the U.S.” #housing #tariffs #tradewar #shortage #inflation

https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20251/SB1105 It looks like #SB1105 Right to Contraception has passed the #Virginia senate. #VALeg

I realize things are pretty grim, but if #Virginia ends up being the only state left in Gilead where contraception is still legal it will be a little funny since #VirginiaIsForLovers https://www.wric.com/news/politics/capitol-connection/va-senate-passes-right-to-contraception-act/ #healthcare

Wow, that has been our slogan since '69. Nice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Is_for_Lovers

@Fragglemuppet Still waiting for the "YOU'LL REGRET THISSS!" popup. Sim City (maybe 2000?) had that and it made a lot of sense.

@Fragglemuppet There we go. Peak User Interface design. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/you-cant-cut-back-on-funding-you-will-regret-this

https://takomatorch.com/index.php/2025/01/25/no-way-to-address-housing-crisis-says-county-that-makes-building-housing-impossible/ “Housing prices are sky-high, rents are unaffordable, and young people are fleeing the area. But what more can we do? We’ve already said we care.” #housing #satire #zoning #shortage #inflation #displacement

https://virginiamercury.com/2025/01/24/free-school-breakfasts-move-closer-to-reality-in-virginia/ “Children cannot learn if they are hungry. This bill is an investment in their education and would maximize all of the other education investments we are making” #Virginia #VALeg #food #breakfast #education

https://www.bloomberg.org/press/un-special-envoy-michael-r-bloomberg-announces-effort-to-ensure-u-s-honors-paris-agreement-commitments/ “More and more Americans have had their lives torn apart by climate-fueled disasters, like the destructive fires raging in California.” #climate #philanthropy #wildfire

Interesting point here about the dominant #urbandesign suburban land use style here in smoky #NorthAmerica : single exit SUV-dependent designs introduce a single point of failure in an emergency. The recommended emergency evacuation strategy here was for everyone to rush onto the streets at the same time, shutting down the streets until fire crews could come to bulldoze all of the abandoned vehicles. #disaster #cardependency #waroncars #evacuation https://www.firerescue1.com/wildfire-and-wildland-urban-interface/dozers-push-through-abandoned-cars-as-thousands-flee-from-l-a-wildfire

@babe Careful, this may be a gateway drug to playing Go https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(game)

@dalias No please. As an aside I was visiting family recently and they were offering novelty Trump toilet paper in the restroom. In my experience at least the presence of Trump’s face did not improve the overall project.

Not perfect but there are some things I like about this #flag redesign proposal for #virginia https://www.reddit.com/r/Virginia/s/Yax7BenP8C #vexillology (yes, non Virginians, we enjoy nudity and murder on our state flag, why don’t you have nudity and murder on yours?)

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/12/walmart-prices-poverty-economy/681122/ “Walmart makes the places it operates in poorer than they would be if it had never shown up at all” #economics #monopsony #poverty #localfood #walmart

@skinnylatte mm, you taste the absence of sodium

"People need to know that regardless of what happens in D.C. that their local government will be there for them" Thanks to Mayor Wade and Councilor Pinkston for working to keep that #publicservice promise in #cville https://open.substack.com/pub/communityengagement/p/december-9-2024-pinkston-and-wade